Welcome to Modern Monday!
And also Traditional Tuesday! Since I was so inspired by working on a
group quilt at my guild, I'm creating a similar quilt but done in my own way. Each week, I feature a traditional block made Modern with complete instructions so you can quilt along with me! Then on Tuesdays, I feature the same block done up Traditional. That's two identical quilts, that aren't identical at all!
Blocks:
The blocks finish 6" square. That's a nice size that doesn't require too much fabric per block, making this quilt a perfect scrap-using project. I plan on making 64 blocks which will make a 64" square quilt with the setting I chose (see below).
Fabrics:
For my Modern quilt, I'm using a variety of orange solids, orange prints, grays and white. I might throw in some blues occasionally because I like the orange/blue combination. Of course fabric selection is subject to change at my whim, and you are free to do what makes you happy.
The Finished Quilt:
I plan on putting a light gray frame around half the block and a dark gray frame around the other half. When set alternately, it will look something like below. If you want to leave it up to serendipity, you can add the frame as you go. You'll have to make sure you keep the light and dark frames pretty even as you go though so you end up with equal amounts of both. If you're a control freak, you can wait until the end and add the frame when you can place each block in just the right place. I'm going to add the frames as I go. One less decision won't kill me!
If you choose this setting option, you will need 1 yard of light gray and 1 yard of dark gray. If you're adding the frames as you go, I'd make sure you label this fabric so you don't cut into it for something else! (4/19/12 update: 1 yard of each is very skimpy - to save yourself a headache, get 1 1/3 yard each!)
About the Instructions:
Since this Modern quilt is largely improv, writing directions (and following them!) is a bit tricky. I show you photos of how I make my blocks and use words, not necessarily measurements to tell you how I did it. You'll have to "wing it" a lot of the time. This means your blocks will never look exactly like mine - and that's okay. If at any time, you want to deviate from my path, do it! That's the basic nature of improv - don't think too hard about it, do what works for you and enjoy the results! (And as always, you can make this quilt with me, give away or sell the quilt if you like when you're done, and share the link to this Quilt Along with your friends, but please don't profit monetarily from these patterns in any way.)
Ideas:
- Keep all your scraps as you go. Sometimes the scraps might make a cool improv block all in themselves!
- If you want a larger quilt, consider making each block twice in different colorways. For example, you could make one block in the orange and the second block in it's complement - blue! I think that would make a very interesting quilt!
- And as always, if you don't like one of the blocks, punt and do something else! You don't have to follow my directions exactly!
Okay, here we go...
Click on the caption below each block to be taken to the instructions.
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| Block 27 - Basket Weave |
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| Block 57 - Piano Keys |
